The “we have a new king” edition.
Banks – solid game. Shot well from the floor, defended well, took a nice charge. Maybe Jose is coming back too early?
Bargnani – his shooting percentage doesn’t show it, but he had a solid game from pillar to post. He logged a lot of minutes, demanded attention and his attitude continues to shine. Stepped up his game defensively tonight and made it look like he was shown stuff he needed to improve on from last nights game and he listened.
Belinelli – thank heavens that he has shown defensive intensity lately, otherwise he’d be in danger of hanging with Rasho for most games. Have no idea if the rumour of him working with a shooting coach is legit but, if it is, both he and the coach get a failing grade so far. Went 0-fer from the floor but if you factor in his D and his mission to get to the line, he helped (barely) more than he hurt.
Bosh – it took him 24 shots, but he broke the record, posted a 22/15 and brought back the aggression that had been missing the last few games. Was he playing with a purpose just because he was chasing a carrot? Have to hope not, but the Bosh doubters will bring it up.
Calderon – should be ready to go the next game. Jay now has an example in Tim Duncan to show him that good players can come off the bench.
DeRozan – played above the rim well tonight, including scoring an alley oop off the glass. Not to beleaguer the point, but quick fouls once again became an issue tonight. It’s both a blessing and a curse: it shows he is stepping up his defensive effort, but needs to learn how to pull back. Andrea went through the same thing. Ah, rookie growing pains.
Evans – disgruntled that the Boxing Week sales at International Clothiers have come to a close.
Jack – rocking the headband to all new levels. Facing someone like Parker and not having Hedo in the lineup, distribution was going to be key. Jarrett did a fantastic job of doing just that with 8 assists. Shooting 50% from the floor and getting to the line made it a game to remember after one to forget.
Johnson – his one bucket was a beaut, his defence was up to his usual standards, but another night where he had the opportunity to rise above the crowd and didn’t. Have to take advantage.
Mensah-Bonsu – back to being nailed to the bench. He’s like Guiness Light.
Nesterovic – Mr. Passion spent the night playing Sudoku and following Gilbert Arenas on twitter.
O’Bryant – he was having a garage sale online today. Fridge, dishwasher, etc. All yours if you were willing to pick it up. Hopefully somebody dropped off some talent on his doorstep so that we can see him actually earn some keep.
Turkoglu- sick as a dog and sent home by the principal. Should be ready for his second visit to Orlando.
Weems – you can never accuse my man of not hustling. Pushes the ball, but sometimes disregards his teammates in doing so. He plays the game a gear below “out of control” and a gear above “methodical”.
Wright – started in place of Turk and did a good job of earning his minutes. Created space on the floor at certain times, defended like his rep claimed he could and even threw in some boards to boot. It’s games like this that frustrates the average fan since it only appears on what appears to be a lunar cycle.
Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh
Under The Bus: Amir Johnson
Game Theme:
84 Raps
San Antonio was playing between the gear “methodical” and the gear “lazy”
That’s the way to go…. Blame a good win on the play of the other team…. never fails….
Screw the headband, Jarret didn’t play as well as his stats showed. You guys keep saying Jose can’t defend, but didn’t Parker get to the rim so many times in the 1st quarter? He had like 12 in the first quarter or whatever. So much for the best defensive point guard on the team.
Yea then JJ shut him down the rest of the night. I guess you rather have Jose getting beat EVERY quarter.
HORRIBLE defense in the first quarter for sure. The first or second play where Parker comes off a very light screen on the left side and JJ lazily pretends to contest it really pissed me off. Especially since he was dogging everyone about their intensity last night. His defense the rest of the first was just as bad where Parker, while a very good player, looked ALL-TIME!
Luckily Banks came in (wow… did I just say that?) and brought stability to the point position at the defensive end (and I thought he had great flow on the offensive end)..
Is anyone wondering why in Jay’s system people like Wright and Weems are permitted to take shots before Bargs or Bosh have even TOUCHED the ball that possession? I get the whole nice Canadian thing, but if I was Jay, there isn’t a chance that players would even think to do it.
I mean, even Timmy, who picks up an offensive rebound in the mid post, kicked it out to see what the offense could create. And he actually IS All-Time…
Could not agree with you more on the Wright and Weems shooting before Bosh / Bargs even touch the ball. Wright should almost never shoot and Weems should shoot when Bosh / Bargs cannot get a shot away or he’s wide open 10-15 feet away.
Don’t get me wrong, this is the best shape the team has been in years. Evident in that we can beat mediocre teams, not a write off to anyone, handle bad teams easily. What else can one hope for?
Were we watching the same game.
Johnson didn’t play poorly.
He shot 1/2 and played good defense.
What do you mean take advantage.
What a stupid statement.
He played 12 mins. What do you suggest.
He play hog ball and try to score every time
he touches the ball. He’s a role player genius.
Maybe they should put you under the bus.
David, are you writing a poem? It even rhymes in a couple of places (somewhat).
Amir has not been playing as well lately. It’s no big deal, every player has sub-par stretches.
I think the hustle play to force that jump ball was amazing. Really let the air out of SA’s game. I thought it was a real momentum changer (or as the course of the game went, a momentum maintainer)… Especially since he had no business getting his hands on the ball. Who steals a d.rebound from Blaire?
I think you were describing what Hump brought to the table…*twitches*
Tony Parker
23 PTS, 6 AST
FGM-A – 9/11
Nobody’s complaining about Jack’s defense, right? Let’s cut Jose a bit of slack since we aren’t going to rip on Jarrett if an opposing PG has an amazing shooting night.
that is all.
P.S. Jarrett is a better defender than Jose, but I’m just trying to make a point about criticizing them equally
Yup. Made worse that his effort to start the game was nil after making all those comments yesterday. And I’m PRETTY sure that Jay’s game plan was to make Parker a jump shooter with a hand in his face. Way to follow the game plan, JJ.
note: i <3 JJ, he just deserves this after calling out his teammates yesterday.
Jack should not be calling out anyone because he didn’t play any better than anyone else in Boston.
He did play solid tonight, don’t get me wrong.
I’m just saying – EVERYONE likes to look at the opposing PG’s stats when analyzing Jose Calderon. But when it comes to Jack… i dunno it just doesn’t seem like people criticize them equally. Nonetheless, I’m all for the best player starting.
Let the chips fall where they may.
He did say “including myself” when he called the team out.
How about for once we don’t critize anyone after a win. So and so had a bad game, WHO CARES!!!!, so and so is a better defender, WHO CARES!!! so and so got lit up, WHO CARES!!!, so and so went 0 -10 WHO F#CKING CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we had a win against a good team and that’s all that matters FFS.
Amen.
YES! All about the W!
Well put Oz…isn’t that all that matters at the end of the game. That’s what I thought until I started reading this blog. Instead, everyone here seems to want to criticize every damn thing they can think of.
I think a poll not long ago showed that 55% of RR readers are into S&M, while another 34% would consider it if given the opportunity.
Is it just a Raptors thing or a Canadian thing????? I don’t know.
I’m not trying to be funny but, what would we argue about then?
Let’s face it, more than 1/2 the time we are here to argue, critique, or “give insight” about the game, a player we like/dislike, coaching, the GM, Doug Smith, raptorsrepublic, etc.
Just to show WE care :)
So those who love to bag on Barg’s and his defense…. Let’s hear you critics today….. Also note 5 blocks and he boxed out allowing Bosh to get the majority of rebounds.
Bad shooting game, but hit 2 of 3 (including the only 3) in the fourth…
Again let’s compare him to Noah… No contest….
Bargs had an off shooting night but again made them when needed in the fourth quarter. His defense was very good tonight..he blocked 5 shots and caused some poor shooting by Duncan and others with solid defense. Anyone who wants Noah over Bargs has no clue about talent. Noah cannot hold up Bargs socks
Both Barg and Bosh had off nights in shooting the basketball. Bosh kept on jacking up shots and hardly went inside. He didn’t get his first free throw until the very end when the Spurs intentionally fouled him. Bargs went to the line 6 times making 4.
You thought his defence was good because of the blocked shots?
Bosh boxes out his man as well so shouldn’t Barg’s get his share of rebounds?
The blocks were nice but who did the Spurs focus on attacking in the 4th? Watch the game again if you can. I won’t get into each possession and try to knock him cause Duncan is a great player and he did a decent job on him but if you think he was locking anyone down tonight your dreaming.
I did like the effort from him on the defensive end as he was trying, which he should do all the time. That excuses his offence tonight, cuz when you have Jefferson preventing you from getting to the block and scoring as a centre you need to look in the mirror.
The best joke of the day…
“Bosh boxes out his man as well”…..
Have you thought of becoming a stand up comic….LOL….LOL…LOL
Quote
I consider Gary Payton’s recent comments as right on the money….
How do you get rebounds if your not boxing out and in a position to grab a rebound? Is it natural athleticism then? Many players in the NBA are athletic.
Rebounding is one of the elemental skill sets along with shooting, passing and defending.
What the Glove says is not a validtor for me. He has an opinion which he is entitled to, as we all do. No comedy here man.
As for you Pizz, I’m not trying to pick apart anyone’s game cause if I was doing that my post would have been a lot longer. I also said nothing about Jack, only #7. I said that I didn’t think he locked anyone down. Did he contribute signifcantly to keeping Duncan to decent numbers and influence, of course…..but he wasn’t locking anyone down. I don’t hate on Barg’s cause in all truth I like him, I’m just not going to glorify anyone for an effort or performance that they are BEYOND capable of, every night.
“I’m just not going to glorify anyone for an effort or performance that they are BEYOND capable of, every night.”
You leave that for Bosh…..
sleepz maybe you shold look in the mirror and ask yourself if you know anything about basketball. Anyone can pick apart anyones game if they ewant to point out only negative stuff. How about the Jack three point attempt at the end of the game, how about Jack’s horrible pass attempts, how about Bosh only getting to the line once, how about Bosh isolated against jefferson at the end of the game and he settled for a bad jumper on the play before he took Duncan to the rack/
Get over it.
Yeah I guess holding a hall of fame centre to 8-22 shooting and 21 points isnt that impressive.
If I was a San Antonio fan I would be flooding the internet about their piss poor effort – after all Toronto was missing two starters and the replacements are journeyman.
And Duncan why was he taking so many shots when they clearly weren’t falling. And Ginobli did virtually nothing all night.
Are you kidding me?
There has been so much trash talk on this site about our need for a center who can be a lockdown defender, grab rebounds and block shots.
This is exactly what Bargnani produced today. 8 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and a plethora tough contested defense on Duncan all night and it is still not enough SLEEPZ? I guess the name is appropiate since you must of apparently been sleeping while watching the game.
BTW 5 blocked shots in a game generally is indicative of a good defense effort.
I guess some people will continue to be ignorant not matter what the result.
Congrats to Bosh on passing Vince as the all time scoring leader. I hope he stays and gets the money he deserves. The guy is still young and I believe that he is developing the necessary leaderships skills to guide the franchise for years to come.
I agree…Bosh has been tremendous for this franchise and I hope he stays. I also agree on the slam to the sleepy one. Maybe he should open his eyes especially when the center he dislikes does exactly what he’s been asking for.
You don’t know me. I don’t dislike him at all.
You’re not hearing me. He had a decent game as I feel that was actually where he paid most of his effort but he wasn’t locking anyone down tonight. He grabbed 8 boards which I will take happily with a below average shooting night. I know he can score and in different ways, which is what I like most about him, but a man of his abilities, size and athleticism should be grabbing boards and being active defensively every night. I can’t rate him on the nights he decides to do it until it’s more often than less, cause he needs to be more consistent with it.
I’m not trying to bash him. He was active defnesively tonight but I also thought that he should have punished Jefferson for even attempting to guard him tonight (which he failed to do) just like I thought Bosh needed to catch the damn ball instead of losing it on more than one occasion tonight.
I agree Bargs should be able to do it every night, but so should they all and very few bring it every night. I still disagree though on the defense tonight because where I was sitting Bargs did a great job shutting down Duncan on many possesions, showed good help defense, changed peoples shots into misses and blocked 5 shots. On offense his shots were not dropping but he should have had a few more shots in the fourth when he hit a couple.
My worry is that Popovich focused on attacking him on pick and roll and Duncan iso’s on the block throughout the whole 4th quarter.
The jumper wasn’t dropping but the greatest of shooters have off shooting nights, and we know he can shoot, and he was open. I would have liked him to beat down Jefferson on the block when he posted up in front of the rim but he didn’t abuse him.
The blocked shots are good though. In fact he had too many tonight……he should spread it around a little more. Maybe 2 on Tuesday and another 3 on Friday. I’d like that, and he is capable of it.
“My worry is that Popovich focused on attacking him on pick and roll and Duncan iso’s on the block throughout the whole 4th quarter.”
Yeah, Pop was only calling plays for me in the 4th because of the match-up I had with my defender. It had nothing to do with the fact that I’m Tim freakin Duncan. Have you watched my team play before? And when was I open? Was I open on any of the 3 occasions that I was blocked? Or was it all those shots over a 7 footer with his hand in my face?
As for the blocks, you’re totally right. Everyone knows we can bank our stats like sick days. He should have put a few away for a rainy day, but he’s a young guy, and he’ll learn.
” I won’t get into each possession and try to knock him cause Duncan is a great player and he did a decent job on him but if you think he was locking anyone down tonight your dreaming.”
I have to disagree. Andrea had my number today. I hit 20% less from the field when compared to my season average, so to say he did a ‘decent job’ is a bit of a reach, even for his worst critics. I’m not sure what you’d consider locking me down, when going 8/22 with 3 BA is only a decent job. Did you expect to see me go 0/22?
Hey Tim,
Solid game last night considering you didn’t play in the first qurter at all.
I also know you’re never ‘open’ as you usually back down your man and give him those sweet bank shots, which seemed to be a little off on Sunday.
Was it because of the vaunted defensive stalwarth of the 7 footer that made you miss by intimidating you or did you just miss some shots?
Tim, I didn’t see it that way exactly (as Amir and Bosh both covered him for stretches as well) but are you saying that # 7 covered you….excuse me, blanketed you for the whole game by himself?
Wait, Timmy just twittered that there are ‘imposters’ spreading lies in his name throughout the internet…….surprise, surprise.
Sleepz rates Gary Payton’s comments as accurate about Chris Bosh as the most over rated player in the NBA.
LOL…..LOL….LOL.
Another question- Which team will have a better record Memphis led by franchise player Zach Randolph or Toronto led by Rupaul over rated franchise player Chris Bosh.
I actually said I don’t need the Glove to ‘validate’ my opinion, clown. If you want to ride his jock and agree with what he says to continue your crusade against CB thats cool. It doesn’t make it the gospel, and I can form an opinion on my own.
Your question about who will have a better record Memphis or Toronto is irrelevant as you’re phrasing it in an attempt to continue to fuel your infatuation with Bosh, when a team is made up of 12-15 players.
Come out of hiding from the user names and be objective instead of childlike, bredren.
You’re wack and your posts are boring and juvenile.
I’m not even in the Noah versus Bargs argument but even I can tell that the argument isn’t that Bargs is better/worse than Noah, but who is a better fit playing beside Bosh.
Then that would not be worth talking about until Bosh re-ups. Also I disagree that Noah would be a better fit for Bosh because Bosh needs the paint open to operate and Bargs does that way better than Noah ever could. If Bosh had to rely on his jumper to score because the paint was clogged up he would not be nearly as efficient.
You are the one who said that “Noah cannot hold up Bargs socks” so you should take your own advice.
BTW I agree that Bargs opens up space for Bosh to operate.
Just a quick note:
“Then that would not be worth talking about until Bosh re-ups” is a good, logical reply to “who is a better fit playing beside Bosh.” It makes no sense, however, as a reply to “Noah cannot hold up [Barg's] socks” since the comparison of who is ultimately better between Noah and Bargnani has nothing to do with Bosh. Think about it.
Just sayin’.
I’m not really concerned with Noah. We don’t have Noah, we have Barg’s, so my focus and hope is in seeing him be the type of player I think he can become……if he wants it.
You may not care about Noah, but he is often compared to Bargs and we hear over and over about what a great player he is, while Bargnani is overlooked amongst Eastern Conference centers.
Had enough about these rebounding numbers. He gets big numbers and I watch him camped under the basket offering little other in terms of “d”.
Yesterday Barg’s had Duncan alone and did a very good job. I saw at least 4/5 rebounds that went to Bosh simply because Bargs did his job and left the rim there for Bosh or others to grab the rebound.
Is he a perfect player? Far from it. He needs work like most players. Yesterday though showed what he can do and did against one of the best in the game.
Now to put into context, take a look at the Washington/San Antonio game the night before, where Duncan had much better numbers in a win and conversely Tony Parker, who torched JJ badly the first quarter, had very pedestrian numbers. Also note Felton also put up huge #’s vs. JJ….
Yes only one game, but still impressive numbers.
Time Roll Call gave some props to Banks. I am more impressed with his demeanor after being low man on the pecking order and getting no respect to his steady and relatively tough play when subbing. He seems like a good guy and proving to be valuable to the team.
agreed. and it’s not even his contract year. he’s doing it to prove himself + to help the team.
I hope it’s not just my hate of Wright but I can honestly say I think Banks is more talented on both ends of the court than Wright, has better attitude by far, and makes way better decisions with the ball. He’s as good a thrird string pg as you could hope for.
Marcus Banks has been playing like a legit 2nd string PG.
Banks has always been very talented, but never developed it.
DAntoni obviously saw something in him to be Nash’s bkup and give him the contract. Maybe just trying to liveup to Nash’s standard screwed with his mind….but then they couldnt use him in Miami either! Strange.
I was at the game and I still say Wright stinks. He’s also a brutal defender son I’m not sure why people refer to his defense. He gives players way too much room and doesn’t contest shots often enough. His offense is atrocious and he rarely makes the right pass.
It was also Carlisle in Dallas who gave him a good grade and used him as a starter when Howard was injured (not sure about the player). He said good things about Wright after the trade…possibly just trying to make BC feel good about the deal?! And he was guarding some pretty tough dudes in the western conf.
He was also making some pretty tough fouls in the Western conference, like the Carmelo one. Okay, okay, that’s not really fair I know, but I couldn’t resist.
Wright was obviously a better defender under Carlisle – maybe he’s a higher-maintainance player (think Charlie V) that needs a coach to push/motivate him to keep his play up?
It’s tough to make the right pass when you have to look down while you dribble :P Just sayin’
agree totally that wright continues to disappoint… there were several times where he blew his assignment on D. I also wish someone told him that he is not good offensively either.
I just cringe when he gets the ball on O.
Bargs played a great defensive game.
Single coverage on Duncan all night and looked good doing it.
Mostly why Amir couldn’t get into the game – Amir just isn’t big enough (or skilled enough) to guard Duncan.
Still Amir made his minutes count tonight! Really hustled. Not sure how the bus drove over him? (Raps didn’t let Duncan have that much of a chance to do it)
Agreed. Duncan didn’t shoot well at all, it was solid defense. And there were quite a few shots that Timmy made that I thought were just ridiculous… I was worried after a couple of them (right when Duncan came in for the first time) that Bargs would start to hang his head, but he didn’t. Lots of growth I’d say.
Single coverage — in the end game — and Bargnani repeatedly denied Duncan.
“Still Amir made his minutes count tonight! Really hustled. Not sure how the bus drove over him?”
Me neither. Raptors beat a top team who had won 5 straight and 11 of 13. Everyone drives tonight.
I just imagined a bus being driven by 15 giant NBA players and I died. The bus would be outta control! haha… but I agree with the point made :P
/cheer @ Amir
One other thing is that we were fortunate that San Antonio also stunk tonight because Bosh and Bargs were not having stellar offensive nights, but the lack of offense from the Spurs made up for it. I would say 65% was the Raptors playing better defense especially on the Spurs bigs, and 35% was the Spurs offense being off.
2 years in a row now the Raps (Bargnani) has taken to Duncan and the Spurs!
And in last years win, Bosh didn’t play!
Maybe the Spurs don’t like playing here? Or Maybe Bargs has played well.
It’d be interesting to see how they do against other teams in EST… maybe old people don’t travel well :P
One thing to remember both teams played out of town last night, and Chris and Andrea both played 40mins vs Boston and 40mins tonite.
Probably explains the poor shooting 42% for Raps and 41% for Spurs.
Raps won due to playing at home with the crowds enthusiasim, and outstanding effort from Bosh and Bargnani, on both ends of the floor.
And a shout out to M.Banks.
I like his energy on the defensive end.
If there was ever a time to make a deal involving banks and wright…this is it. The funny part is people were saying that banks is a salary dump and wright would be a player people might look to get…i think banks might have more value than wright right now lol
Interesting proposition, wow, didn’t even think about that.
I hear if you wave a PG in front of the Timberwolves’ front office that they can’t help themselves. I’m smelling Banks for Love.
“I’m smelling Banks for Love.”
I want some of that stuff youre smoking.
Better yet Banks for Flynn. Hey, you never know..Oh shit, Kevin McFail isn’t the GM anymore in Minny :s
Yeah anybody think of a marcus banks deal for a team in desperate need of a legit backup pointguard? haha i cant beileve i just used legit and marcus banks in the same sentance….wow
I don’t understand why Wright is there in the last minutes of the game! I really think we’re handicapped offensivly. . . I really woul go with marco at 2 and at three could be derozan or even weems. . .
We don’t really have a lot of options in terms of checking RJ… Marco, as much as I loved his hustle on Ginobli, just can’t match up with RJ at all. I’d say the same is about right for Weems as well (not that you offset the offensive handicap all that much switching out Wright and putting in any of the guys in that you mentioned)…
A fifth option is a fifth option is a fifth option. Down the stretch, they just needed someone to keep RJ from pulling a VC.
Marco is shooting 39% from the field.
Yikes,
He is only a .416% career shooter, where again does the respect for his shot come from?
I think it’s his form. If your shot is that ugly (and DAMN is that an ugly shot) that when it goes in, people think you’re Jesus. The problem is, unlike Reggie, Marco’s shot is a different kind of ugly every time he shoots it. Just awful.
Our boy Marco drives to the hole, and that’s what we need. He has been pretty good defender lately, and that’s what we also need. Yeah, his shots are not falling that’s true – but as long as he keeps defending and going to the charity stripe, I am fine with it.
Good win, I am still bit disappointed with Boston effort and overall strategy. Geez, do we have to play that Orlando team again?
Bargs blow-by and dunk on Duncan was a thing of beauty! :)
Does anyone think that Amir needs to bulk up just like CB has done this past year? I think he looks like a stick out there and still manages to bring energy and rebound.
Bulking up could certainly help him develop more of an inside presence on offence.